A new policy is announced by China’s National Immigration Administration on Monday that offers five-year travel permits to non-Chinese permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macau. This new policy will help businesses in Hong Kong and Macau, as employees of these companies will be able to travel to Mainland China more easily.
From July 10, foreign permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macau will be able to apply for such visas to enter mainland China, the administration said.
Any foreigner who is permanently residing in Hong Kong and Macau and desiring to visit the mainland of China can apply for multiple entry travel visas with a validity of five years.
This decision, announced on the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to Chinese from British rule, is one of the actions taken since the COVID pandemic to attract international visitors & business travelers to China again.
Such travel Permit holders can now make multiple entries to mainland China during the five-year validity period. And each visit under these permits is limited only to 90 days.
The 2021 Population Census reported 619,568 non-Chinese people in Hong Kong.
The business community in Hong Kong generally welcomes this new policy as a positive step. It makes business travel for employees to the Mainland much easier for business-related trips. It also means that this policy change may improve the business relations between Hong Kong and mainland China.
While the business community appreciates this step but they also believe that this policy needs further enhancement. Some business leaders want the permit to be extended to non-permanent residents as well. This could be beneficial for companies that employ foreign workers on temporary visas. Some businessmen want a decrease in the paperwork involved when applying for the permit. This would make the process easier for businesses to utilize this new policy.
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The Chinese government has stated that this new policy would help better connect Hong Kong with mainland China. This would facilitate economic activity and cultural exchange between Hong Kong and Mainland China.
The special travel permit is also an incentive for foreigners who are permanent residents in Macau & more so for Hong Kong, which has seen a decline in its global appeal due to controversies regarding the city’s response to COVID-19 and Beijing’s actions against street protests in 2019-2020.
